NBA’s Decision Against Clippers’ Owner: Is It Legal?

4/30/2014 12:04PM

NBA commissioner Adam Silver announced that Clippers owner Donald Sterling would be banned for life, fined $2.5 million for making racist comments, and that the league would try to force the team’s sale. Is it legal? Kent Zimmermann, Zeughauser Group legal analyst, discusses on Lunch Break. Photo: Getty Images.

This transcript has been automatically generated and may not be 100% accurate.

... I ... welcomes your Wednesday lunch break I'm Tanya were there oh she days after the recording of Los Angeles Clippers owner Donald Sterling making racially insensitive comments goes public ... NBA commissioner Adam Silver responds by announcing Mr Stirling will be banned from the NBA for light ... and fined two point five million dollars in addition ... the commissioner will earn the league's board of governors to force Mr Stirling to sell the team ... now is all of this needle joining us now ... is can Zimmerman a legal analyst with Deutsche Houser group ... welcome can't wait to see it there ... so let's break this down because it seems like the band and the final had very little resistance to us but what about for seeing him to sell the team is that needle so the NBA creates its own rules and under those rules ... the owners of the NBA explicitly give the commissioner permission to do a lot of things they also ... explicitly say that the owners with a seventy five percent vote ... could force the sale the team ... goes to the walls that were put together by the owners now just tell you one good thing though ... this guy is not only did it ... these are rich they get ... it is not just a rich to get his await interests are and how to get ... he's had no problem for you to identify parking lot I it's highly unlikely we're headed towards an ... epic legal battle for for very long time is good rises to the courts ... it's possible ... that he can fight this in court ... and avoid the sale to delay the CL is possibly due to the rest was like the guys did your soul ... the season when Steinbrenner was banned from major League baseball in nineteen ninety ... there was never any talk about twice ... the any talk about him being forced to sell ... the team a is this one of the harshest punishment ever levied against the ... Pres fourteen this is why the pursuit is the harshest punishment ... ever levied against an owner of a pro sports team ... it's obviously got very widespread public support ... everybody has come out in favor of this ... Mark Cuban the billionaire owner of the Dallas Mavericks has had something interesting though ... in that he is he said ... the day when we get to the point where people are punished for what they're thinking and saying rather than what they're doing ... that can lead to a slippery slope that's not popular opinion and by the way cute I also said he supports ... the lifetime Danny supports which Mr. sober did but that's an interesting comment that likely other owners have on their minds the styling is clearly an unpopular figure right now and do you think it's a benefit to fight cancer to swallow it ... and walk away you know ... he he is ... he's shown he doesn't really care what people think I passed ... he also ... one fortunately he's not mess up a whole lot financially ... the guy ... could avoid a sale but find in court ... also if you look it is now worth about a billion nine and his fine of two point five million dollars that's the equivalent to an average income American noted that the three dollar carry it out so the guy he adds really knocking her to the area go out and the question now if I am a pro sports team owner should I be worried ... about this is this gonna set a precedent and forced me to sell my team that I did something wrong so that if the Greens have different rules ... in the NBA they have their own rules which the owners have the power to change if they wish ... and under the NBA rules is this playing out as it should be given wide latitude commissioner ... now should you be worried ... you should be worried if your standard to stop doing something that could damage the lean ... mean yes this could happen to you but that's the rules of the rules of the game I sat out the argue that the team owners unknown to roll them again as it were before getting into the game and that